Wednesday, October 29, 2008

I've made lots of wreaths for Christmas but never a wreath for Halloween until this year.

We have new neighbors next door and I wanted to have something to take to them to welcome them to the area and just like that, my friends, my Halloween wreath was born.

It's pretty simple to make, you'll need a wire frame such as you'd find in any craft store though if you were trying to be extra thrifty you could recycle a metal coat hanger by bending it into a circle.

For my 10-inch wreath it took 3 pounds of candy--let's hope our neighbors aren't diabetic. Of course after this gift I suppose they very well could become so, huh? You can attach the candies in a couple ways, by either mixing them all up and randomly attaching them or attaching them in clusters and patterns as I did with mine. I think after seeing my results I'd go with a random grouping next time but whichever way you choose find candy that is twisted in its wrapper so you have a little tail to hold on to.

You'll also want to find candy that coordinates with your color scheme. I wanted fall colors so brown and gold were it: Tootsie rolls, Reisen dark chocolates, Werther's caramels (soft and hard) plus candy corn salt water taffy. The idea would work well for Easter, Valentine's Day, Hannukah or Christmas depending on the colors you choose.

Once you've got all that candy, resist sampling it and go to work. Take a piece of thread (or a short length of craft wire would work too) and fix two pieces of candy together by their wrapper ends.

Then attach that little two-bunch of candy to the wire frame by either tying it to the frame with more thread or twisting it to the frame with the wire--either way, just make sure it's secure.

Once you've got the entire frame filled in you can tie a loop of ribbon to the back of the frame as a hook and I usually tie a pair of scissors to a pretty ribbon and hang them from the frame as well so people can easily snip off a few candies when they go by.

You could add a pretty bow tied to the top or a cute little wooden sign hung in the middle that said "Happy Halloween" or "trick or treat!" Very cute. Our neighbor loved the house-warming gift, though I left her on the doorstep with her three boys screaming "I want a piece! I want a piece!" Maybe I should have dropped it off after dinner instead of before if I wanted to make a friend.

Great idea. We don't have Halloween celebrations in Honduras (unless you are with Americans) but Hondurans love Christmas. And Candy. What a lovely idea. Even if they become diabetic, it's the thought that counts.

It's the first time I stumble upon a lesson on how to make a wreath. and even better - the wreath of candies:)) (I have seen bouquets made of candies before (even the "wedding" one), but not wreaths). I absolutely love the idea itself and how colorful and really "autumn" it looks. I can imagine Christmas candy wreath - poinsettias made of red and gold color candies surrounded with different shade of green:)